Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 70: Rescue & Revenge

Ryu staggered backwards, reeling from the blow to his chest, and tried admirably to regain his balance… but his opponent beat him to the punch. Literally. Zephyr’s fist connected with his stomach, and he dropped to his knees with a loud oof.

“Alright,” Tseng’s voice interrupted before they could begin again. “That will do. Ryu, take a break. Victor. Onto the mat with Zephyr.”

Ryu groaned in relief and stepped off of the mat, swapping places with his fellow rookie. His game was off today, and he was pretty the others could tell. But the news from Wutai, and the fact that half of the team was presently trying to rescue one of their own had caught him off guard… and he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He had yet to even meet either Remy or Rude… and yet he was undeniably worried about them. His rather spectacularly unpleasant encounter with the Vice President last week had given him a somewhat revised outlook on his new teammates. Every last one of them had gone out of their way to ensure that he would be alright. Even when the truth of what had happened had come to light, both Reno and Tseng were surprisingly quick to forgive and reassure him that he would face no serious consequences for his inexcusable stupidity. They’d… treated him like family, even though he wasn’t personally convinced he deserved it.

And now one of theirs was in serious danger. A week ago, he wouldn’t have expected it to affect him in the slightest… but it was.

He took a seat on the bench to sit back and watch the current match, while awaiting his next turn, and reached for his water bottle.

Yes… he was worried about the others. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about these “Zenshou” people. He’d certainly never heard of them prior to being promoted… but that was hardly surprising. Ryu had never made a habit of studying the criminal element of Midgar, much less that of other regions. He’d asked Tseng about the group, and learned that they were considered extremely dangerous. They were, in fact, the reason the Turk lieutenant had ended up on crutches… and were apparently responsible for Reno being seriously injured not long ago. Not only that, they were the direct cause of the reactor explosion in Gongaga, were behind several significant thefts of Shinra weapons technology, and had murdered a member of SOLDIER in cold blood.

Of course, even SOLDIERs weren’t infallible. It was conceivable that they’d simply gotten lucky in that regard. But still…

Ryu silently shook his head as he watched Victor take Zephyr to the mat… only to be very quickly outmaneuvered and pinned himself by the smaller rookie. What Zephyr lacked in strength – though to be fair, she didn’t lack much, owing to years spent climbing in the mountains – she made up for in sheer nimbleness. Her opponent’s size didn’t seem to matter to her. If she could find an opening – any opening – she could exploit it and take them down in a one on one match. Her biggest weakness, when it came to hand to hand, was that she didn’t handle multiple opponents well.

“Well… that was impressive,” a voice to his right stated, the sarcasm rather difficult to miss. Ryu jumped in response, nearly choking on the sip of water he’d just taken as his gaze snapped to the source of the comment. The rookie was shocked – and more than slightly aghast – to see Rufus Shinra standing just to his left, watching their practice once again. How long had he been there? Ryu genuinely hoped he hadn’t been watching his own match against Zephyr.

“Sir,” Tseng greeted the executive with a nod, not bothering to step away from the training space.

“I see the little girl still has the upper hand. Are the other two even trying?” Rufus replied with a note of disdain. He didn’t even so much as glance at Ryu, but the rookie somehow felt as though he were under direct scrutiny anyway. Tseng chuckled softly.

“Sir… if you continue with such commentary, I’m going to be very tempted to insist that you follow Reno’s suggestion from last week’s sparring session and challenge one of my new rookies personally.”

Rufus snorted softly.

Zephyr sent Victor tumbling to the mat. The senior Turk smiled slightly.

“Well done, Zephyr,” he said, before glancing over at the Wutaiian rookie, “Ryu… let’s see how you fare against Victor this time.”

Ryu hurried to stand up and make his way out onto the mats, where the older rookie was waiting for him. As he did so, he heard yet another derisive snort, but the executive said nothing further. Ryu cringed slightly. He really had made an ass of himself last Friday, and he wondered just what it would take to redeem himself in the eyes of the vice president.

“Was there something you needed, sir?” Tseng asked, “Or are you simply here to observe?”

“I was looking for your pet Slum Rat. When I failed to locate him – or anyone else for that matter – in your offices, I assumed he would be with you.”

“We’ve been rather busy since the new security measures when into effect. Most of the team is out of town on one assignment or another at the moment,” the senior Turk replied, “Reno, specifically, is currently in Wutai.”

The vice president blinked in momentary surprise, before his expression morphed into an annoyed scowl.

“I see…” Rufus replied, “And just how long do you expect him to be gone?”

“I’m not certain, sir. Another team ran into some… difficulties. Reno and Kai have both been dispatched to assist.”

Rufus nodded, though it seemed to be more to himself to Tseng.

“And Veld?”

“I believe he’s in a meeting with your father and Heidegger, sir. Or at least that’s where he was heading when the rookies and I leftthe office a short while ago.”

“Very well. Carry on, then…” Rufus replied, before turning on his heel and striding out of the training hall.

---

It was some time later that Tseng had finally dismissed the rookies for lunch… and himself for a much needed break. He settled himself in his office, his injured leg propped up on a stack of cushions he’d commandeered from the lounge, and silently sipped a cup of tea. The blissful silence was not to last, however.

A sharp knock on his office door announced his visitor, who, without further preamble, stormed inside and shut the offending portal behind him with far more force than was strictly necessary. Rufus paused in front of his desk, arms crossed over his chest.

“What in Ramuh’s name is your idiot protege doing in Wutai when I need an escort?” he demanded.

“Hopefully, rescuing one of our number who was taken by the Zenshou,” Tseng replied, somewhat grimly, and he didn’t miss the fact that Rufus momentarily paled at the mention of the Wutaiian traders.

“… You sent him back to those barbarians?!” he sputtered, and Tseng shook his head.

“The Zenshou have been a perpetual thorn in our side for quite some time now. Remy and Rude were sent on a reconnaissance mission with the objective of learning the identity of the person ordering the thefts of Shinra property. Unfortunately, something went wrong and Remy was taken prisoner. Reno and Kai were both sent to assist Rude in retrieving her and to complete said mission.”

Rufus glowered at him and, grumbling, took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Tseng’s desk. The Turk lieutenant smiled slightly.

“There’s no need to be concerned about him, sir.”

The younger man scoffed indignantly. “I’m not concerned about that idiot,” he shot back, “I… am merely extraordinarily irritated at being deprived of both my preferred security and the only other Turk I find acceptably competent to fill in.”

Tseng stared him down and set his tea aside. “Sir…” he said, with a note of long-standing exasperation, and Rufus deflated slightly and sighed.

“You have never been anything less than honest with me over the years, Tseng… so I suppose I owe you the same the courtesy. You know full well that the Slum Rat… Reno… is one of a very select few that I trust. Implicitly. He’s nothing short of utterly infuriating ninety percent of the time, but that doesn’t change the fact that I trust him with my life the same as I would trust you. I will not be pleased if the Zenshou succeed this time where they failed last time. I cannot afford to lose him… nor would I wish to, even if I could.”

Tseng’s gaze softened slightly, and Rufus glared in response before the Turk could reply.

“And if you know what’s good for you, you will never repeat that to that little miscreant of yours,” the executive added. The Turk lieutenant smiled faintly and shook his head.

“Reno will be alright.”

“How can you possibly know that?” the younger Shinra asked, rolling his eyes.

“To be fair, I don’t. But allowing myself to think otherwise before I have a reason to wouldn’t do anyone any good.” He settled back slightly in his chair and fixed Rufus with a pointed look. “Shinra’s Turks are exceptional. Reno is exceptional. He will be alright. With luck, they will all be alright.”

Rufus eyed the senior Turk.

“I see I’m not the only one who’s worried,” he said after a moment.

---

Petra frowned slightly as she gazed out at the distant shore. Rocket Town was well inland… but the plains beyond were so flat and sparse that one could see all the way to the ocean on a clear day. Normally, she’d enjoy the view… even with a chilly autumn wind whipping across the plains… but at the moment, all she could think about was the fact that just beyond that stretch of ocean, three of her fellow Turks were preparing for a rescue mission, and a fourth was in the hands of the Zenshou.

Meanwhile, she was stuck here… a tiny little town of pilots that had sprouted up around the Shinra Space Program’s launchpad. And even that, she likely would have found unbearably interesting under normal circumstances. The huge rocket that was being constructed was quite a sight to see. She’d been under the impression that the space program had vastly scaled back over the years due to a series of accidents… but the new Shinra No. 26 rocket was proof to the contrary. It was due to launch next summer. Shinra’s first manned space flight.

Palmer certainly seemed ecstatic about it. That was why they were here to begin with. The executive had come to inform the crew of the recently approved timetable personally. The news had been met with quite a lot of excitement… particularly on the part of the man Petra understood would be piloting the rocket.

“Hey, Petra? The helicopter is prepped and ready. Our flight crew says we can leave any time,” Liam said, as he made his way over to where she was positioned, guarding the door of the house Palmer and his lead mechanics and pilot were still meeting.

They’d been in Rocket Town since yesterday afternoon, having departed via the executive helicopter earlier the previous day. It had been the first time Liam had ever ridden in the luxury aircraft… and only the second time she’d done so.

“Palmer is still talking to Mr. Highwind and the others,” she replied, “I… think it’s going to be awhile yet.”

She’d been able to hear the executive’s high pitched voice even through the closed door… though between the barrier and the speed at which the man tended to ramble, she hadn’t been able to make out much of what they were actually discussing. It was, however, very clear that he was excited about the plans being made.

Liam shrugged. “Fine by me. It’s been awhile since the last time I was here. Kind of nice to be back.”

“Oh… was Rocket Town one of the places your father was stationed?” she asked, curious.

“Yeah, for a little while when I was around eight or so. He helped design and build a new launchpad and gantry after one of the earlier rockets exploded and damaged the old one. We didn’t stay long… but I always thought all the planes and stuff around here were pretty cool.”

“You know… Rude’s from Rocket Town. I wonder if he was still living here when your family was here?”

Liam cocked his head to one side. “Huh. I guess he could’ve been. I don’t remember him, though,” he said, shrugging, “But like I said. We weren’t here long… and I was kind of a bookworm as a kid, so I didn’t socialize much.”

Petra giggled, and nudged the small satchel hanging from his shoulder… which she knew had at least three novels tucked inside for the trip. “Liam, you’re still a bookworm who doesn’t socialize much.”

The younger Turk grinned. “Yeah, I know.”

Petra glanced down at her watch and sighed. “At this rate, we’re definitely not going to get out of here before noon like we were planning on.”

“Should we contact headquarters with an update?” Liam asked, but the senior rookie shook her head.

“I’m sure Veld and Tseng have their hands full right now, with so many of us on assignment… and there’s really nothing to report, anyway. We’re not even technically behind schedule, since our schedule was pretty loose to begin with. I don’t think there’s any point in bothering them with an update until we actually have an update. We’ll hold off until Palmer is ready to leave so we can give them an accurate ETA.”

Liam nodded, and sighed, lapsing into an awkward silence as he joined her standing guard at the door to the small cottage. His gaze turned toward the ocean, and he frowned.

“Think they’ll get her back?” he finally asked. Petra didn’t have to ask who he was talking about, in spite of the abrupt change in topic.

“I hope so…” Petra whispered.

---

“You’re sure that’s the place?” Reno asked, narrowing his eyes at the kid. The boy swallowed sharply and nodded.

“Well… We can’t go in like this,” Kai said, gesturing to the aircraft. “They’ll see us a mile off… and they’re hear us even before they see us.”

At the moment, they were still quite some distance from their target, having landed on a small peninsula of land southeast of the Wutaiian capital. Their ultimate destination was not an island, as Rude’s intelligence had initially led him to believe, but rather a narrow sliver of land jutting out into the ocean. The terrain was rocky, and from their current vantage point – and with the aid of some high tech binoculars from the R&D department – Rude could just make out the entrance to a cave.

By the time they’d found it, though, the sun was up, and as Kai had said, approaching from the air in broad daylight was a bad idea. It was just asking to be shot down. Given Rude’s most recent run-in with the Zenshou, they knew the thieves had the artillery on hand to do just that. They’d need to take a slightly more subtle approach… and if there was one thing a helicopter was not, it was subtle.

Rude looked back at the redhead, who, by then was frowning in thought as he gazed out at the cave.

“That place is gonna be a bitch to sneak into,” he said shaking his head. “Think there’s a back door? ‘Cause ya know they’re gonna have someone watchin’ the front.”

“That’s not the front,” Kai replied.

“Wanna run that one by me again?” Reno asked. The diminutive Turk flashed him a slight smirk.

“That’s a sea cave. The coast north of Junon is full of them. I spent a lot of time exploring them as a kid,” she said, “There’s always seaward opening. They form from that side, not the landward side. What we’re looking at right now technically is the back door. We need to find the front… Feel like going for a swim Baby Turkling?”

“Heh… Sure, why not?” Reno replied with a snort of laughter. He glanced into the cargo section again, where the young Zenshou was bound and gagged on the floor. “But we did bring the kid along… Think they’d be up for a trade? They came all the way to Midgar for oneof theirs, after all.”

Rude shook his head. “Not sure we wanna risk asking. Kid’s not exactly high up in the pecking order. They might not see it as an even trade, and we’d lose the element of surprise.”

The redhead nodded. “Alright…” he breathed, pausing in thought. A moment later, he spoke again. “I know neither of you are gonna wanna hear this, but our best chance of gettin’ Remy outta there in one piece is to hold off ’til it gets dark.”

Kai opened her mouth to protest, but Reno shook his head.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t like leavin’ her there, either. But let’s face facts here. There are three of us, and an unknown number of them. They got terrain on their side, plus fuck only know what kinda armory in there, as well as a hostage we don’t want ’em to kill. Night is our best shot at this, ’cause if we don’t catch ’em by surprise, we’re royally fucked. ‘Sides… if we’re goin’ in from the water, we’re gonna need some equipment. We’re no good to Remy if we drown before we even find her.”

The more senior Turk frowned, but finally nodded in assent.

“We’ll head back to the capital, get what we need, ‘n then find a place to sit tight ’til nightfall,” Reno continued, “Rude, you’ll stay with the copter. We might end up needin’ a quick escape if things do go south. Me ‘n Kai’ll work our way down the beach and find that second entrance, get in, get Remy, ‘n run like hell. We get lucky, they won’t even know we were there ’til we’re on our way back to Midgar.”

“What about him?” Rude asked nodding to their captive. The redhead shrugged.

“Keep ‘im as Plan B. We end up in serious shit, we got nothin’ to lose tryin’ to trade him back to ’em… and if everything goes our way, we go home with Remy and a bonus prisoner.”

---

By sunset, Liam would have liked nothing more than to have been on his way home. Palmer, however, seemed to have had other ideas. Not only had he insisted on sequestering himself away with several members of his engineering staff, he’d also decided that a celebratory dinner was in order.

A dinner to which neither Turk had been invited, naturally.

His stomach growled in protest, as he stood guard outside of the door to the little cottage the group had been working out of all day. A short distance off, he spotted Petra making her way back over towards him from her latest patrol.

“Why don’t you go take a break?” she said, “Grab something to eat at the inn. I’ll take over again for awhile.”

Liam breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” he replied, gladly switching places with the older rookie, “Did you already let Veld know what’s going on, or do you want me to?”

Petra shook her head. “Already taken care of. He sounded… annoyed… that we’re going to be tied up overnight again, but agreed that there wasn’t anything else we could do but wait until Palmer was ready to leave.”

“Poor Sykes…” Liam snickered as he turned to go, “He’s the only senior Turk not on medical restriction left at headquarters right now. Besides Veld, I mean. He’s going to be busy if we’re not back soon.”

“I feel more sorry for the newbies…” Petra giggled. “Remember what a pain it was when everyone was busy and all we ever got to do was spend the day in the training hall because we weren’t field-ready yet?”

“Ugh… All too well,” Liam groaned, “I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Take your time,” Petra replied, and sighed softly, “I have a feeling they’re not in any hurry to get to bed.”

Liam laughed and gave his fellow rookie a quick wave before heading off towards the small inn near the center of town. When they’d first been sent out, they’d planned on being here one afternoon and the following night and returning next morning. They were coming up on night number two… and while he was glad to have been trusted with the responsibility – one which far exceeded any he’d been given to date, if he was honest – he was finding it hard not to think about his fellow Turks and half-wishing he was back in the office where updates on the rescue team’s progress would arrive first.

But of course, he couldn’t be. They were needed here, and, as Reno was so fond of saying, orders were orders. It didn’t change the fact that he felt woefully out of the loop right now, however.

Which, when he really thought about it, was silly. Reno and Kai and Rude were mid-operation by now. It’s not as if they were calling in every couple of hours to update the rest of the team. In fact, they probably wouldn’t report in at all until they did whatever it was they were planning to do. They had more important things to be worrying about right now.

As Liam made his way along the dusty road that ran through the center of town, he paused long enough to gaze up at the gantry and the massive rocket that was still under construction beside it. Like he’d told Petra, the gantry had been one of his father’s designs. Liam hadn’t seen it in person in years, but it was still just as impressively large as it had seemed when he was little. He had never manifested his father’s gift for technical design – that, apparently, had been inherited by his younger sister, exclusively – but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate all the effort that had gone into that structure. Built to pull safely away, like the petals of an opening flower, from the rocket as it launched, the three spires that supported the craft could easily be lifted back into place by a series of hydrolic systems afterwards for subsequent launches. Previous iterations had been single use only, simply falling to the ground on a timed release.

It had been built to replace the one that had been destroyed by the tragic accident that had befallen the Shinra No. 24 rocket. It had happened before he and his family have ever arrived in Rocket Town, but he’d heard the story. The whole thing had gone up in flames on the day that would have been its maiden flight, taking the crew with it. A catastrophic failure during launch had obliterated everything inside of the fuselage, and melted a significant section of the old gantry and launchpad. He’d watched the new structure go up over the course of about six months as a child. It had been fascinating. And now, it was finally going to be used.

As he was turning to head towards the inn, a slight movement on the stairs leading up to the rocket’s main entrance caught Liam’s eye. He frowned, and squinted into the encroaching darkness, scanning the staircase. Finally, he spotted a dark figure furtively making their way upwards. The rookie reached for his PHS.

“Hey, Petra…” he said when she answered, “There’s someone sneaking around over at the rocket. I’m going to check it out real quick.”

---

Reno trailed silently behind Kai as she slipped into the dark water at the beach. Night had fallen, and the Turks had returned to the Zenshou’s little hideaway… and they were well-prepared for what they were planning to do. The redhead made it out to where the water came up to his waist and slowly lowered the rest of his body beneath the surface before kicking forward to follow Kai along the shoreline.

“You’re sure we can get in like this, right?” Reno asked, keeping his voice at a whisper.

“I told you. A sea cave always has a seaward entrance. We just have to find it,” the senior Turk replied. Reno nodded and swam after her as she made her way towards the outcropping of rock that the waters had, over the years, carved into a hidden lair. They moved by moonlight alone, not daring to use the flashlights they’d procured just yet. The last thing they needed was for someone keeping watch to spot them before they were even close enough to start their search.

Reno had to admit… he was a little nervous about this plan. Not because he doubted its chances of success, but rather because, from the moment he’d started pulling on the diving gear, his last underwater mission had been gnawing persistently at the back of his mind. That assignment, too, had been conducted largely in darkness. He’d had to remind himself that in that instance, it had been from the depth of the water… not the lack of sunlight. Still… he couldn’t help but draw some disturbing parallels.

He was, again, looking for an underwater entrance to squeeze himself through. And again, he had no idea what might be waiting for him on the other side of said entrance. The biggest difference was that, this time, he didn’t have Tseng holding onto his rope, waiting to reel him in if he got himself into trouble. He didn’t even have a rope.

And while he knew that Rude and Kai had his back, just has he had theirs, the prospect of doing this was still more than slightly off-putting. He hadn’t realized just how off-putting until he’d waded out into the waves and pulled on a pair of fins.

Water had never scared him. In fact, he didn’t actually think it was the water itself that scared him, even now. It wasn’t even the possibility of dying that worried him. Ifrit knew he faced that fear on a regular basis. But he’d been goddamn lucky to walk away from the mission in Junon. Now he was tempting fate and doing it again… and if he failed, not only might he not be going home, but they might not get Remy back, either.

He couldn’t let those thoughts stop him, though. Remy, if she was still alive, was depending on them.

They gave the rocky protrusion the cave sat on a wide berth, swimming out a fair distance from shore, between turning sharply and diving deeper to head back in. Once they were under the water, Given her greater experience, Reno let Kai take the lead. He had only a small light attached to Kai’s waist to guide him, and he was careful not to lose track of her in the darkness. She, meanwhile, carried a small palm light that she kept focused on the seabed, careful not to let it be seen from above. It took them several long minutes to cover the distance to the outcropping of rock jutting out into the water.

It was different here than it had been in Junon. The water was warmer… murkier… and being so close to the shore, Reno could make out the muffled sound of waves crashing on the beach above the sound of his own breathing through the regulator. Kai raised her light slightly, and signaled him to turn his own light on and follow her upwards.

Reno moved carefully, eyes wide in the dark water, feeling his way more than seeing it even with the aid of his light, as they began their search for the cave entrance. The minutes stretched on, and after awhile, the redhead began to wonder if Kai really knew what she was talking about. He hadn’t encountered anything that even remotely looked like an underwater cave. Kai moved up farther along the rocky wall, while Reno continued on laterally, still finding nothing.

Just as he was beginning to consider coming up with a new plan, he felt the inextricable pull of a strong current against his body. Before he could swim out of it, it had dragged him into the rocks. Reno grunted loudly as the hard, rough surface grated along his exposed forearm, and scrabbled for a handhold to stop himself from being swept along with the current. Just as he found one, the rush of water switched directions, pushing him back. He blinked in surprise, and trained his light on the wall again, scanning along the surface until he saw it.

In the darkness, it was almost like a supernatural void. The surface just… blipped out, and beyond where solid rock should have been was… nothing. Pure blackness, that seemed to breathe in time with the waves.

Yeah… that wasn’t intimidating at all.

He briefly flashed his light at Kai, and the diminutive Turk hurried towards him. Reno pointed to the opening, and Kai nodded, flashing him a thumbs up before swimming closer to check things out. By then, the current had switched directions again, flowing back into the opening… but this time the redhead was ready for it, and braced himself against the pull near the opening. Kai waited until it stopped, pausing momentarily before the outflow began again, and as soon as it did she waved Reno forward and plunged headlong into the cave.

Reno hurried to follow. It took some effort, swimming against the current… but Kai had told him before they’d gone in that sea caves could be treacherous. Trying to swim into one while the ocean was flooding into the space, either with the tide or just with normal wave action, could send you careening into a wall or worse. It was especially dangerous if you didn’t know the twists and turns of the opening.

They made their way through the darkness, bracing themselves when the current changed again, and continuing on once it shifted back. The short wait seemed to take ages, but was barely more than a minute… if that. The pair continued to feel their way along the rocky interior of the cave until, finally, Kai stopped, and Reno followed her gaze towards a faint circle of light a little ways above them.

Kai went first, slowly swimming up the shallow incline towards what had to have been an opening. A moment later, she motioned for him to join her, and Reno surfaced in a tiny pool surrounded by stone. The light was coming from a narrow crack in the wall just beyond the edge of the pool, and judging by the flickering, the source was a fire or perhaps a lantern.

The redhead stripped off his diving mask and held a finger to his lips, cautioning his fellow Turk to stay silent, and then eased off his air tank and fins. He slipped out of the water, the rock surprisingly smooth against his bare feet, and darted over to the crack… and then froze as a pained scream sent a chill down his spine.

Kai was at his side in a matter of seconds, having shed her own gear. She moved to push past him, a look of pure rage on her face. Reno only just managed to grab her before she started to wriggle her way through the narrow opening.

“The fuck are you doin’?!” he hissed, hoping his voice wouldn’t carry.

“That was Remy’s voice,” Kai replied, anxiously.

“I know… but we’re gonna be a pretty shit rescue party if we alert every goddamn Zenshou in the place that we’re here…” he replied. The words had barely left his lips when a figure drifted past the opening, momentarily blocking out the light. The redhead instinctively clamped a hand over the diminutive Turk’s mouth and dragged her back into the shadows, holding his own breath as he did so. He watched, eyes wide, as the figure paused for a few seconds, and then moved off, before finally disappearing entirely. What sounded like a door shut with a loud thump. When he was certain they were alone once more, he slowly exhaled.

Kai’s hand frantically tapped the one covering her mouth and Reno blinked as he realized he was still silencing her. He let go of her, and she pulled in a gasping breath before shooting him a dirty look.

“You didn’t have to try and suffocate me…” she whispered.

“Sorry…” he replied, his voice barely audible. He peered through the crack, and saw that the coast was now clear. “Let’s go.”

The opening was a somewhat tight squeeze, but nothing the two Turks couldn’t navigate. Reno was a little concerned, however, about getting Remy back out the way they’d come in. By the sound of that scream a minute ago, she probably wasn’t exactly in top form at the moment, and the swim they’d made to get there wasn’t an easy one. His hope had been to sneak in, free her, and leave before anyone was the wiser… They might have to switch to the backup plan if Remy was too injured to make it through the underwater entrance.

He hoped they wouldn’t have to switch to the backup plan. It had a much higher likelihood of one of them getting shot.

Emerging from the crack, the pair found themselves in a small store room. There were crates upon crates of munitions and other goods – stolen, no doubt – stacked in the cramped space. He was a little surprised that the back entrance wasn’t guarded… but then… it had taken the two of them no small amount of effort to find and traverse it. It wasn’t as if they’d just walked right in. Maybe they didn’t consider it a significant vulnerability. Or hell, he thought, glancing back at the opening in the wall, maybe they didn’t even realize it was a viable way in. The only way they’d have known for sure is if they’d taken the time to squeeze someone through that crack and gone for a dark, scary swim in a cave that, for all they knew, might not actually lead anywhere… They were isolated enough out here, they might not have bothered.

Another scream ripped through the corridors of the cave, echoing painfully off the walls. Reno took the lead this time, crouching as he wound his way around the crates towards the makeshift door at the far end of the storage area. He slowly eased it open, and peered out. Beyond, was a tight corridor.

“We’re not gonna have any cover once we step outta here,” he noted. He could hear the sound of voices from closer to the cave’s landward entrance. Several of them, all laughing and talking animatedly in a language he couldn’t understand. More than he’d expected, if he was honest… which meant that if they did end up having to fight their way out, it wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park.

“Then let’s do this fast and clean,” Kai replied. She already had one of her knives in her hand. Reno, too, pulled his EMR from the pouch fastened to his weight belt, and readied it. He nodded and crept through the door.

Remy wasn’t difficult to find. Between her cries, and the intermittent sobbing, there was also the sound of something thin and flexible striking flesh. The redhead’s teeth clenched as he bit down on the impulse to charge in and beat the crap out of whoever it was that was hurting her. Because as much as he would have liked to… they needed the element of surprise. The two Turks easily followed the sounds of torture until they came to another spot where the cave opened up.

“So tell me… how do you like it?” a young woman, her hair bleached to an almost white blond, asked as she slowly circled Remy, tapping a slender wooden cane against the palm of her hand. Reno recognized her easily. It was their former prisoner.

The Turk was strung up from the ceiling, her toes barely touching the ground, muscles straining as she struggled to regain her tenuous footing on the floor and take some of the weight off her arms. She’d been stripped naked and the skin on her back – the only angle Reno could see from his present position – was criss-crossed by an intricate lattice of deep welts… some of which were freely bleeding and others that had begun to scab over.

“Get Remy,” Kai whispered. “I’ll take care of the Zenshou.”

The redhead side-eyed the more senior Turk, uncertain as to whether or not that was the best of ideas, considering the history between the two… but when the Zenshou brought the cane down across the backs of Remy’s legs, knocking them out from under her and forcing her arms to, once again, take her full weight, he growled softly and stepped aside to let Kai do her thing.

The smaller Turk stepped fully into the room, and the silent intrusion was enough to get the woman’s attention. She turned, staring at them… but before she could raise the alarm, Kai had let fly a single blade. It stuck neatly in the Zenshou’s throat, silencing her before any sound beyond a strained gurgle could escape. Kai smirked, and made her way across the space, pausing in front of the woman as she dropped to her knees, blood gushing from the wound.

“Get Remy out of here,” Kai said softly, turning to look over her shoulder at him, “This bitch and I have some unfinished business.”

Reno frowned, but hurried to cut Remy down, only just catching her before she collapsed. He hoisted her into his arms, and started back the way they’d come.

“Just make it quick, will ya?” he finally said. Kai could take care of herself. It was Remy who needed him right now.

He still had his doubts about the injured Turk being able to make the swim… but plan B was a bust. There was no way he could fight his way past what sounded like close to a dozen Zenshou, and protect Remy. Not even with Kai’s help and the having the benefit of having the jump on them. It just wasn’t going to happen. That just left the underwater cave.

Reno swiftly carried Remy down the cramped corridor and into the storage space, all the while trying not to listen to the muffled sobbing of the woman in his arms. She’d pressed her face into his shoulder, by then, apparently aware enough of what was happening to know not to give them away. Shifting her through the crack in the wall was no easy task, given that her legs could barely support her and it was clear that every little movement was agony… but somehow they managed it.

“This isn’t gonna be fun,” Reno said, as he lowered her to the floor next to the pool, “… but it’s all we got. Think ya can hang in there a little longer?”

Remy nodded, and slowly swung her bloody legs into the water, biting down on her fist to stifle a cry as the salt stung the open wounds. Reno grabbed his fins and his mask, pulling them on, and then reached for the air tank.

“We’re gonna have ta share, ‘kay?” he said, checking the regulator before dragging the straps over his shoulder.

“I knew someone would come…” Remy replied, closing her eyes tightly as he helped her completely into the water and followed her in. “I knew you wouldn’t just leave me…”

“Don’t worry, Remy. I gotcha,” he said, pressing the regulator into her mouth. “All ya gotta do is breathe. Just leave the rest to me.”

He cast a swift glance behind him, hoping to see Kai… but he couldn’t wait. He needed to get moving with Remy before anyone else came to investigate. With that thought in mind, he took a deep breath, and ducked beneath the water, pulling Remy along with him.

---

Kai straddled the Zenshou as she lay on the floor and brought the blade down again, and again, and again. Her hands were already slick with blood, but she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop. This monster had used her in the worst way imaginable… had used herto hurt her family. Death was too good for her… but it was the most Kai had to offer.

Meifen. That name would stick with her until her dying breath. Kai didn’t even know for sure if it was the woman’s real name or just one she’d made up to give to a gullible lover, but it was the only name Kai knew. By then, Meifen’s eyes stared blankly back at her, devoid of life and devoid of the smug look of self satisfaction she’d worn the last time Kai had seen her.

The Turk had lost count of how many times she’d stabbed her… but at this point, all she was stabbing was a corpse. She finally forced herself to stop, breathing heavily as she looked down at her handiwork. A part of her wanted to walk out of this torture chamber and do the same to the rest of the Zenshou. They were all guilty… all deserving of punishment.

But she knew she wouldn’t walk away from that sort of confrontation, and while her desire for vengeance was strong, she wasn’t yet so far gone that she was willing to sacrifice herself to deliver it to them. Slowly, Kai lowered the knife, wiping it clean on Meifen’s stained shirt and tucking it back into its sheath on her wrist. She staggered upright, glaring at what remained of the woman.

“So tell me… how do you like it?” she spat, mimicking the woman’s cruel gloating towards Remy just a few short minutes ago. She smirked coldly when she received no answer.

~end chapter 70~